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German priest brews beer in washing machine A German priest has found a way to brew beer in his washing machine. Michael Fey, 45, of Duisburg built a computer interface into the machine to let it run an automatic brewing programme. It consists of turning and heating, but no spinning, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung reports. "A priest without alcohol, that's the wrong combination," he argued. "Jesus didn't say, take this healthy camomile tea, he offered wine." The priest brews 30 litres every six weeks, the legal limit for home brewing, and says he was inspired by the tradition of monks who...

<p>WITH a reassignment and an appointment, Gov. Gray Davis has remade the California Public Utilities Commission.</p> <p>If the latest edition of the PUC fulfills its promise, it will avoid the occasional bouts of business cluelessness that have marred the commission's performance, while still focusing on what is best for consumers, particularly of electricity and telephone services.</p>

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration will ease clean air rules, allowing power plants and refineries to avoid new pollution controls when expanding operations, administration sources said Friday. The long-awaited rule changes will "increase energy efficiency and encourage emissions reductions," the Environmental Protection Agency (news - web sites) said in a statement obtained by The Associated Press. An announcement of the rule change was to be made later in the day. Environmentalists and a group of Northeastern states said they plan to file suit immediately challenging the changes. The state officials contend that the easing of the clean air requirements...

<p>In a pair of decisions Thursday, state regulators voted to shift as much as $6 billion in costs onto consumers over the next year to help pay for the continued fallout from California's energy crisis.</p> <p>The resulting cost to the average customer of California's two biggest utilities -- Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and Southern California Edison -- will be at least $270 in 2003, according to estimates Thursday.</p>

| Archives | Code Forum |  Code Quiz |  Free Stuff |  Instructors | | Online Training |  Products |  Register |  Send To Friend | Seminars | Unsubscribe | Topic - GroundingSubject - Stray Voltage - New Jersey Date - 09-7-2002           Stray Voltage - New Jersey Stray voltage problems in Brick not new, some say Published in the Asbury Park Press 8/28/02 http://www.app.com/app2001/story/0,21133,608653,00.html#top By JOSEPH PICARD TOMS RIVER BUREAU BRICK -- The stray voltage problem that is plaguing a township neighborhood is nothing new, according to a Driscol Drive residen. Lee Cole of 515 Driscol Drive said she and...

<p>Last year's rate hikes are still in effect, although wholesale prices are lower.</p> <p>LOS ANGELES -- Blackouts have ended and wholesale power costs have plummeted, but California's energy crisis continues to haunt consumers.</p> <p>Californians aren't paying any less for electricity even though wholesale power costs one-tenth of what it did when the state Public Utilities Commission approved a 30 percent rate hike 15 months ago.</p>

<p>California has no solution yet for the future.</p> <p>Instead of a plan to fix a badly broken electricity market, the state has a soup of confused and chaotic efforts that could lead California right back into rolling blackouts this summer.</p>

Power supply improves The cost doesn't By Nancy Price Record Staff Writer Barring unexpected disasters, Californians probably don't need to worry about having enough electricity to keep their air conditioners running this summer. A combination of factors, including more electricity generators, a deeper snowpack in California and the Pacific Northwest that will increase hydroelectric power supplies, and continuing conservation efforts should keep the lights on in the Golden State. Paying for it will be another matter. Even though power-generating costs have dropped, primarily as a result of lower natural-gas prices, the cost of electricity in Stockton will remain at last...

<p>A year ago, when a struggling Pacific Gas and Electric Co. broke off bailout talks with the state of California and filed the third-largest bankruptcy in U.S. history, the big question was: Which avenue would be better for the utility -- cooperating with regulators, or fighting them?</p>

<p>But for PG&E Corp., the bankruptcy of its huge utility subsidiary has hardly been an occasion for reaching for the Novocain.</p> <p>PG&E's elixir has been the utility's status as a "solvent debtor" and its promise to fully repay all its creditors -- assurances that PG&E lawyers recite like a mantra in court arguments and legal briefs.</p>

<p>Exactly one year ago, PG&E turned its back on negotiations for a government bailout of its financially troubled electricity and natural gas distribution businesses and, in a direct rebuff to Gov. Gray Davis, instead chose bankruptcy.</p> <p>Filing for Chapter 11 at first seemed a huge setback to shareholders, creditors and managers of PG&E, a venerable Northern California corporation that traces its roots back to the Gold Rush.</p>